Observation/Reflection #2: Eyes in the Back of Your Head: Observing Student Actions From a seat in the rear of the room, observe your students and take notes on what they are doing while the teacher is presenting in the front of the room, while they are supposed to be taking notes, doing seatwork, and/or when they are working in the lab. Look closely at each student for a range of behaviors, and resist the temptation on only see what you expect. Note especially what is happening furthest from the teacher.
What strategies are used by your CT to encourage students to attend and engage? Watch carefully how your CT moves around the room. Draw a map of the classroom and sketch a path showing (approximately) this movement.
How important is student engagement to your view of how you will teach? What strategies will you employ to encourage student engagement?
I observed two different classes while I was visiting, and I noticed two completely different environments. First, I observed an AP Biology class, full of high school seniors. The AP Biology class was very focused on the lecture at hand. I did see some students talking or looking at each other and laughing over what may be a private joke, but they still seemed to have their focus on the lesson. I noticed that my CT was really focused on pacing the lesson correctly. She would be looking around at her students between slides. It seemed as soon as the students seemed to be glancing around or beginning to talk that she would move on to the next slide. I also noticed that before she began she made sure all of the students had their eyes on her and their work out on their desk. This seems to be something she utilizes in all of her classes. I believe that the AP Biology class is designed though to have the students take responsibility for their own learning, and these students deliver.
Next I observed a class full of Earth Science freshmen. This was a very different environment. The children were younger, and there were a variety of student types that I noticed. Where the AP Bio class had mostly hand-wavers and workhorses, the earth science class was much more diverse. This class had a good number of workhorses, a wallflower, a few dreamers, a few goof-offs and maybe one eye-roller. I am borrowing these names from Fires in the Bathroom. I will say that even though I noticed these types of students it was difficult to say who would be the one displaying the behavior. This class was to continue their work on their lab reports that they had been working on. Many of the students were doing their work with short interruptions here and there to flirt with the opposite sex or chat with their friends. One girl was giggling on one side of the room with her friend, but then looked across the room to another girlfriend of hers and they both giggled as if they were speaking some secret language. I felt that my CT really has an understanding of when she should intervene and when she should just let them socialize for a minute. In the back of the class there were a few boys whopping each other with their plastic rulers. I could give a myriad of examples of the different behavior I saw.
Although I have not really had the opportunity yet to see too much instruction from my CT, I have noticed some strategies for engagement. My CT moves about her classroom. She speaks from the front of the room, from the back of the room, and from the side of the room. She often speaks to the students without saying a word. She may just look up from what she is doing at students off-task, and students will get back to work. I have also seen my CT see puzzled looks on student faces and approach them before they come to her. I have also noticed with some seatwork she has checkpoints for students. She has them come to her and show their work at certain points just to make sure that the students are appropriately on task. I look forward observing more strategies from my CT.
Student engagement is something I hope to employ often in my lessons with students. I hope to use hooks at the beginning of my lessons to get students interested. For example, with the hot spot lesson, I would love to have my students brainstorm about Hawaii. Put a big map up on the screen and show students the islands. Ask questions like how did these islands get here in the middle of the ocean? What do you notice about the islands? Hopefully stimulate these students to start thinking about the movement of the plates and the formation of the islands. I am not sure I will get the response I am hoping for from these students, but I hope to foster an environment of scientific thinking in my classroom.
From a seat in the rear of the room, observe your students and take notes on what they are doing while the teacher is presenting in the front of the room, while they are supposed to be taking notes, doing seatwork, and/or when they are working in the lab. Look closely at each student for a range of behaviors, and resist the temptation on only see what you expect. Note especially what is happening furthest from the teacher.
What strategies are used by your CT to encourage students to attend and engage? Watch carefully how your CT moves around the room. Draw a map of the classroom and sketch a path showing (approximately) this movement.
How important is student engagement to your view of how you will teach? What strategies will you employ to encourage student engagement?
I observed two different classes while I was visiting, and I noticed two completely different environments. First, I observed an AP Biology class, full of high school seniors. The AP Biology class was very focused on the lecture at hand. I did see some students talking or looking at each other and laughing over what may be a private joke, but they still seemed to have their focus on the lesson. I noticed that my CT was really focused on pacing the lesson correctly. She would be looking around at her students between slides. It seemed as soon as the students seemed to be glancing around or beginning to talk that she would move on to the next slide. I also noticed that before she began she made sure all of the students had their eyes on her and their work out on their desk. This seems to be something she utilizes in all of her classes. I believe that the AP Biology class is designed though to have the students take responsibility for their own learning, and these students deliver.
Next I observed a class full of Earth Science freshmen. This was a very different environment. The children were younger, and there were a variety of student types that I noticed. Where the AP Bio class had mostly hand-wavers and workhorses, the earth science class was much more diverse. This class had a good number of workhorses, a wallflower, a few dreamers, a few goof-offs and maybe one eye-roller. I am borrowing these names from Fires in the Bathroom. I will say that even though I noticed these types of students it was difficult to say who would be the one displaying the behavior. This class was to continue their work on their lab reports that they had been working on. Many of the students were doing their work with short interruptions here and there to flirt with the opposite sex or chat with their friends. One girl was giggling on one side of the room with her friend, but then looked across the room to another girlfriend of hers and they both giggled as if they were speaking some secret language. I felt that my CT really has an understanding of when she should intervene and when she should just let them socialize for a minute. In the back of the class there were a few boys whopping each other with their plastic rulers. I could give a myriad of examples of the different behavior I saw.
Although I have not really had the opportunity yet to see too much instruction from my CT, I have noticed some strategies for engagement. My CT moves about her classroom. She speaks from the front of the room, from the back of the room, and from the side of the room. She often speaks to the students without saying a word. She may just look up from what she is doing at students off-task, and students will get back to work. I have also seen my CT see puzzled looks on student faces and approach them before they come to her. I have also noticed with some seatwork she has checkpoints for students. She has them come to her and show their work at certain points just to make sure that the students are appropriately on task. I look forward observing more strategies from my CT.
Student engagement is something I hope to employ often in my lessons with students. I hope to use hooks at the beginning of my lessons to get students interested. For example, with the hot spot lesson, I would love to have my students brainstorm about Hawaii. Put a big map up on the screen and show students the islands. Ask questions like how did these islands get here in the middle of the ocean? What do you notice about the islands? Hopefully stimulate these students to start thinking about the movement of the plates and the formation of the islands. I am not sure I will get the response I am hoping for from these students, but I hope to foster an environment of scientific thinking in my classroom.